Preview

This is the exterior and interior as it was when we viewed it before we made our offer. I will still not call it "our house" because I feel like I'll jinx it somehow, that the sellers will change their minds (as unlikely as that is considering they had a new house built and are moving into it), lightning will strike the house and burn it down, a sinkhole will swallow it up, etc. Less than 2 weeks until closing.

The Appraisal + Paint Cards

We had a stressful day yesterday. The appraisal came back for $5,000 less than we offered. After a few phone calls yesterday and today, they worked it out so we can get our house. The seller is taking the appraised value and offering $1,000 toward closing costs. The loan interest rate is being increased slightly and adding $2,100 up front to closing costs. The realtor is giving up $1,000 of his commission. All that together will cover the closing costs, and we may get some money back at closing.

I saw my grandma for the last time until next spring. Since her holiday season will be kind of crazy, she gave my husband and me a Lowe's gift card for our birthdays, Christmas and a housewarming gift. We'd like to get paint, shower doors for the master bath and lumber for our projects. We'll have to take measurements for the shower before we can figure out which doors are an option.

I picked up paint cards today, which was exciting.

I really like the chocolate with the greenish blue on the larger card. They didn't have any of the actual cards in that shade.

Today is our third wedding anniversary, and although we are 1,000 miles apart, we still had some time together on Skype. My parents were really nice and gave us a gift card for Chili's to use for a late anniversary dinner after I get back to Houston next week. My husband took a week of vacation the week after I get back, which is also the week we're supposed to close.

My husband is looking forward to building things in the garage. We're going to pick up some lumber, and our first 3 projects will be a workbench for the garage, these ledges and this desk from Ana White's website.

I plan to decoupage my ledges and desk with these Captain America and Iron Man comics I won on eBay for less than it would have cost me for a couple quarts of paint in the colors I was previously interested in. I still would have had to seal it with the same stuff either way.

We plan to start building our projects in October if all goes well with the appraisal and closing. First off, though, we're going to paint the magenta room.

We're Supposed To Close In 3 Weeks, And...

We're supposed to close in 3 weeks on October 4. We were waiting to hear back about the appraisal, and my husband called the VA loan officer to ask. The appraiser has been to the house and requested more information about the house to justify our offer on it. The loan officer didn't sound too worried about the situation, but when we asked about how long it would be before we found out, he said it wasn't uncommon to not have a final response about the appraisal until a few days before closing.

If they determine that the house is worth less, and the seller won't negotiate, we will be out over $1,000 for the inspections and appraisal. That will leave us with less than 60 days to find a new place to live, or at least a temporary place to live that's affordable that will allow our cats to come with us.

It will all work out, though. It's just stressful in the meantime. At least I'll be back in Houston in less than 2 weeks so I can deal with this stuff in person instead of long distance.